


If We Couldn't Take You

by RealaCarsona



Category: L.A. By Night (Web Series)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-26
Updated: 2020-03-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:48:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22902727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RealaCarsona/pseuds/RealaCarsona
Summary: What should have been a simple mission, turns into a disaster, as the Valley Coterie is chased across LA by the Camarilla.And in the process, one of their own is taken.
Relationships: Eva/Jasper (LA By Night)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 16





	1. Chapter 1

Everything had gone so terribly wrong, so quickly.

It was meant to have been a simple fact-finding expedition, and instead the entire Coterie had found themselves running for their lives, being hounded by dozens of ghouls as the sky was lightening with the impending sunrise.

Jasper was injured, Annabelle was close to frenzy. Victor and Nellie were just desperately trying to keep the two of them moving.

Eva was following behind as they ran, down a side street, another alley, across an abandoned parking lot.

Every few moments, Jasper glanced back to check she was still with them, and she nodded to him reassuringly.

Jasper and Annabelle were the priority.

They were close to the Maharani when the car came flying out of nowhere, slamming into Jasper and sending him crashing into a wall.

Two gun shots rang out.

Annabelle snarled, losing her tentative control as the bullets slammed into her chest. A whirlwind of red leather and rage, she leapt for the car.

It was only Nelli’s superior reflexes that stopped her, full bodily tackling Annabelle, the two of them tumbling across the ground in a flurry of groans and angry yells.

Jasper wasn’t moving, there was a snarl, he was alive. But not moving. His injuries were too great.

Eva placed herself firmly between the car and the Nosferatu, yelling to Victor to get Jasper and go.

The Baron of the Valley didn’t argue, whether he saw the determination in her, or just valued Jasper over the Tremere. It didn’t matter, he picked up Jasper and leapt, bounding from wall to wall as he went up and over the car.

Sparks running up her arms, Eva glanced at Nelli before unleashing a torrent of electricity towards the attacking vehicle.

She felt her beast rail against her as she did, and her stomach knotted in hunger.

Behind her, she listened to Nelli shouting at Annabelle in desperation, but the Brujah was deaf to her pleas.

Eva felt a tug on her waist, as the silver ritual knife she carried was snatched by the Toreador Baron, who touched Eva’s shoulder before stepping away.

The smell of Kindred Vitae filled the air, and the answering growl from Annabelle reverberated through the street.

Blood streaming from the messy gash in her arm, Nelli screamed at Annabelle again, and then span on her heel and ran.

Eva watched as the two of them disappeared around a corner.

Concern for Nelli shot through her heart, Annabelle was hunting.

Shaking off the fear for others, Eva focused back on the imminent danger to herself.

Bolts of lightning rained from the sky, striking into the firsts of the ghouls, before arcing outwards, obliterating waves of them.

But with each bolt, the hunger eating away at her grew, and she felt the edges of her vision turning red.

Steeling herself one last time, Eva released one last bolt.

Her fingers were burnt and blackened, but the ghouls who had been pursuing them lay on the ground, dead.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she noted that that should upset her, but there was no time.

Centring herself, Eva turned on her heel, to follow the rest of her new Coterie to safety.

Just in time for the stake to pierce through her ribs, sinking into her heart. Placed there by the smirking Aurora who had just stepped from the shadows.

The following evening was a blur of panic and poor decisions, the Valley Coterie scrambling in pursuit of their Blood Witch.

But no information was forthcoming, not until a half-hour before sunrise, when a letter was delivered to the Maharani by a ghoul who handed the paper over before putting a bullet through his head.

_Mr Heartwood,_

_We were so disappointed when you were unable to join us to watch the sunrise._

_Luckily, the renegade has indeed been made available to share the morning with us in your place._

_Please do give the rest of your associates my best._

_M. Strauss_

It took everything the rest of the Coterie had to stop Jasper from rushing out of the door, desperate to find wherever the Camarilla had taken her.

But even Annabelle stepped in front of the door.

“Jasper, I'm so sorry.”


	2. Chapter 2

Waking was painful, not in any physical sense, but because of the absence of the familiar presence beside him he had woken to for the past four months.

As Jasper stirred from the day’s sleep, he became aware of two facts.

He was not in his Haven.

And Eva was not there.

Jerking upright, he found Annabelle, curled at the foot of the bed, red tear tracks dried down her face.

Disturbed by his sudden motion, Annabelle’s eyes snapped open, meeting his before looking away shamefully.

Swallowing thickly, Jasper slipped out from between the sheets, ignoring the distressed Brujah in favour of heading out into the Maharani.

As though in a daze, he wandered up towards Nelli’s office, drawn towards the Toreador for a reason he couldn’t explain.

Stepping into the room, he was brought to a standstill.

The entire room was destroyed, carefully organized décor, walls of awards and posters. Someone had rampaged through and destroyed everything.

On the couch against the wall was the woman he’s come looking for, and she looked worse than her office.

Her left arm was bent at an horrific angle, cuts and bruises marred every inch of bare flesh Jasper was able to see. The smell of dried blood hung heavy in the air.

As Nelli sat up to greet him, he was able to see the pain on her face as she grappled with what was surely numerous broken bones.

“Jasper.” Nelli murmured softly, “Have you healed yet?”

Always practical, that was Nelli.

Standing up, Jasper watched as before his eyes, the wounds she was suffering started to close. She wasn’t able to heal all of them, but by the time she was standing, her motions were smoother.

“Not yet.” He answered her honestly, “I haven’t been able to even think of anything.”

“I know.” She told him, and he believed her, “We need to work out what happens next, Annabelle and Victor are going to try and give you speeches about how you should feel and what direction you should point those feelings in. Ignore them, no one gets to tell you how to deal with this. But if there’s anything I can do to help, just know that I’m here for you Jasper.”

Without waiting for a response, Nelli patted him on the shoulder before slipping past him and making her way in the direction of Victor’s rooms.

He was grateful for that; he wouldn’t have known what to say if she’d have stayed.

The following hours simultaneously felt like an eternity, and like no time at all.

Nelli had been right, because of course she was. Victor and Annabelle each had their own opinions on what Jasper should do now.

They had argued, strongly, when he had told them he was going home for a while. And they had argued even more when he’d told them he was going alone.

Nelli stepped in, cowing them into backing down and letting him leave.

He had folded and allowed her to send an escort with him as far as the boundaries of the park, but one there, he had her word that her ghouls would withdraw.

The drive was agonizingly long, although Jasper did find an odd comfort in the ghouls no nonsense attitudes towards him. Neither gave any hint that they were aware of the happenings of the evening prior, although Jasper was sure that Nelli would have been careful to brief them lest he succumb to an anger frenzy.

Not that that was likely, there was no room for anything except the grief, the gaping sense of loss.

As soon as they dropped him off, he was gone, disappearing from sight as he wandered back through the park.

Every tree, every stream, every glimpse of starlight through the canopy, all reminded him of her.

So, he closed himself off to it, focusing only on the sound of his own footfalls as he hurried towards his Haven.

Entering through a door no one was aware of, at least not anymore, he made his way through the maze of tunnels, before emerging in his library.

Looking around, Jasper bit back a strangled whimper, strewn across the back of the sofa were several garments. His black hoodies, and the white shawl she had been wearing when Victor had called them out on their ill-fated expedition.

Open face down on the side table was the book she’s been reading, something obscure in Latin, which she had been deeply fascinated by.

Across the room, the record player still held the music they had danced to in a flight of fancy.

Lost in his melancholic musings, he almost didn’t hear the noise from the next room. A muted rumbling, as though from a caged animal growling.

Frowning, he drew his knife and advanced to the door that led to their bedroom, his bedroom now.

Closing his fingers around the handle, he briefly wondered how long it would take them to find their way in here to retrieve his body, and then he pulled it open.

A white blur slammed into him, knocking him off his feet and onto his back as sharp nails raked across his skin, drawing crimson Vitae to the surface.

The shock of seeing her again was enough of a distraction that he wasn’t quick enough to avoid the attack, as sharp fangs sank into his shoulder and began draining him.

Jasper’s own Beast rose up in indignation and rage, the two of them together flipping her body over to pin her to the floor. Even in this state, he was fortunately strong enough to restrain her.

Eva’s eyes were wild and unfocused as she snapped again at Jasper, his blood a startlingly vivid red against the pale skin of her face.

Recognising the hallmarks of a frenzying Kindred, Jasper kept her pinned firmly, whispering frantic apologies as he hurriedly fished behind his back for the wooden stake, which he had fashioned from an old table leg.

“It’s going to be ok.” He told her, pressing a kiss to her forehead as best he could as she thrashed and clawed at him.

Before he reared back and brought the stake down firmly, piercing straight into her heart.

The violent motion stopped, and Eva went limp, although the manic look remained in her eyes.

Jasper’s beast clawed at him, demanding he take from her what she had freely offered in the past. The rational side of him shook his head, he needed to look after her not make this worse. Although he couldn’t for the life of him work out what she was doing here.

She was conscious, he was all to aware of that as he slipped his arms under her body and carried her to their bed. But every time he looked back at Eva’s face, all he saw was the Beast, intent on finishing what she’d started if he was foolish enough to remove the stake.

As he laid her down, he was able to see the extent of her injuries.

Both wrists were a mangled mess, the skin torn from them as though she had ripped her way free of bindings.

Her arms and face were a patchwork of cuts, and as he tentatively felt around her waist, he could feel the jagged edges of ribs poking through her skin.

It was tempting just to continue feeding her from himself, but he knew all too well the danger if he were to succumb to a frenzy as well.

Pulling his phone out, Jasper scrolled through his contacts for a moment before coming to a decision and hitting dial.

“Nelli, hey. I need you to do something for me and not tell the others.”


	3. Chapter 3

It took Nelli less than thirty minutes to arrive, although to Jasper it felt like an eternity.

He desperately wanted to be anywhere other than the bedroom, sitting beside the motionless form of the woman he loved, but the knowledge of her awareness compelled him to stay.

The moment he received Nelli’s text to inform him of her presence, he ran for the door, charging through his haven to usher her in.

Following closely behind was Greg, who looked the picture of calm, surveying Jasper’s home curiously.

Nelli’s eyes were filled with questions, but she voiced none of them, gesturing for Jasper to lead the way.

When she laid eyes on Eva, Nelli froze, glancing at Jasper.

“She looks like she’s been through hell.” Nelli muttered. “But far better than I expected for someone who we thought had met the sun.”

“Her hearing is as good as yours, and she’s staked not torpored.” Jasper hissed back, retaking his seat on the edge of the bed, and clasping Eva’s hand in his.

Smiling grimly, Nelli came to join him, running her hand through the tangled mess of Eva’s hair as she spoke to the immobilised Kindred.

“Eva, I’m sorry that I don’t know how specific your feeding tastes are, but I figured it was best to play it safe.”

Nelli nodded to Greg, who coughed hurriedly and moved a little closer, “Yeah, ugh, Nell’s told me the situation and I volunteered to help out. You’ve saved our asses a couple of times, so I figure I owe you one.”

Jasper let out a low growl, but moved as Nelli pushed against his shoulder, allowing her ghoul access to Eva’s prone form.

Looking between the three Kindred, Greg cleared his throat again, before rolling his sleeve and offering his arm to Nelli. “Do you mind?”

With a grateful smile, Nelli wrapped her long fingers round his wrist, bringing it to her mouth before biting down as gently as she could.

Used to the experience, Greg kept his composure, even as the power of the Kiss made his knees go weak.

As Nelli withdrew her fangs, he sat down beside Eva, gently tipping open her mouth to hold his bleeding wrist above it.

They waited for an agonizing number of minutes, as Greg painstakingly fed the injured blood witch.

Nelli kept a critical eye on her ghoul, there to catch him when he eventually slumped, retaking his wrist in her hands smoothly, “You’ve done enough, thank you Greg.” She whispered to him, before swiping her tongue over the open wound, sealing it closed within moments.

“We get him out of this room first.” She told Jasper firmly, motioning him to help her move Greg elsewhere before they went any further with Eva.

It didn’t take them long to set him up comfortably in Jasper’s small library, leaving him propped up and already dozing off from the blood loss.

Returning to the bedroom, the two Kindred looked down at the Tremere.

“Do you think she got enough?” Nelli asked softly.

Jasper just shrugged, “I have no idea, I don’t know what happened to her. I was convinced she was dead right up until the moment she attacked me.”

“Ok then, I suppose we’ll find out the hard way.” Nelli laughed humourlessly, taking the space Greg had occupied beside Eva. “Ready?”

Nodding, Jasper moved to the head of the bed, reaching over to place his hands on Eva’s shoulders, pushing down hard to pin her in place should she try and lash out again.

Once Jasper gave her the signal, Nelli wrapped her fingers around the stake, placing her other hand on top of one of Jasper’s.

After a moment’s hesitation, she pulled it out in one smooth motion.

There was a moment of silence as Eva’s eyes blinked, before they began darting round the room.

“Eva, it’s ok, do you remember what happened?” Nelli asked gently, reaching out to cup Eva’s cheek in her hand.

White hot pain flooded up Nelli’s arm, as pearly white fangs sank deep into her hand, crunching the delicate bones and ripping through tendons.

With a startled cry, she yanked her arm back, causing further damage as Eva’s fangs tore jagged ribbons across her flesh.

Snarling, Eva fought against Jasper to get free, but the Nosferatu had her firmly trapped.

“It wasn’t enough Nelli, we need more.” Jasper snarled, as he struggled to keep Eva’s claw like fingernails away from his face.

“Do you really want me bringing more people here Jasper? We both know she won’t want you to kill them if we do, so how many people are you willing to let find out where you live?” Nelli growled back at him.

Jasper let out an inhuman sound of frustration and uncertainty, before locking eyes with Nelli, “You have to do it.”

“Excuse me, what?!” Nelli laughed bitterly, “Have you lost your mind?”

Frowning, Jasper leaned a little harder on Eva’s shoulders, using one hand to pin her wrists so she couldn’t claw at him anymore.

“I would, but I’m already hungry, and me losing control would be terrible right now.” Jasper explained hurriedly, struggling to keep Eva in place, “I know for a fact that you’re diligent about feeding, you are at far less risk than me. And I trust you, Nelli, I trust you.”

Examining his face carefully, Nelli nodded, raising her wrist to her mouth, “Fine, let’s get this over with.”

Sinking her teeth in, she opened a sizable wound, before holding her arm above Eva’s mouth.

The starving Tremere strained to reach the blood greedily, swallowing huge mouthfuls of it as Nelli willed her vitae to pour out.

It wasn’t long before Nelli’s own beast was screaming at her, to stop what she was doing, to take back the gift she was giving, to take from Eva what she had taken from one other before.

Ignoring it all, Nelli retained a single minded focus as she fixated on maintaining the steady stream of blood and watching for any signs of awareness from the thrashing vampire.

As she began to worry that she may have to stop short, Nelli saw the tell tale spark of confusion, and drew her arm back, licking the wound clean hurriedly.

“Eva?” She called softly, sitting back down beside her.

Blinking slowly, Eva’s gaze focused on Nelli, before moving to Jasper’s hands pinning her in place.

“Nelli, Jasper? What happened?”

“We were hoping you could tell us that?” Nelli pushed gently, as Jasper let out sigh of relief and scrambled round the side of the bed to sit at Eva’s other side, retaking her hand.

Pushing herself up into a sitting position, Eva ran her free hand over the back of Jasper’s, frowning as she realised both the extent of her injuries and the blood splatters covering her body, the bed, Nelli and Jasper.

“Did I hurt you?” She whispered, horrified as her eyes locked onto Nelli’s hand, which was still a gaping mess from Eva’s frenzied bite.

Shaking her head quickly, Nelli forced herself to pull on the power of her blood one last time to close over the wound, “Nothing that can’t be fixed, and you were hardly yourself.”

Nodding slowly, Eva inched closer to Jasper, laying her head against his shoulder, “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” He told her, the comforting rumble of his voice, deep in his chest, soothing to her. “Although I am very curious what happened to you last night. And how you got back here?”

From her viewpoint on the other side of the bed, Nelli noticed the hesitancy on Eva’s face.

“It’s ok, just take your time, we only want to make sure you’re ok.” Nelli began slowly, “A letter was delivered to the club, Strauss said he was going to leave you out for the sun…?”

Eva moved even closer to Jasper, leaning her back against his chest as he shifted to wrap his arms around her.

“He did, but it’s been a very long time since he last knew me, I’ve learnt many things since then.” Eva told them; eyes cast downwards.

“But if he really did go through with that, how did you get away?” Jasper asked her, tightening his arms protectively. “How did you get back here safely?”

Closing her eyes tiredly, Eva ran her fingertips over the back of Jasper’s hands, “I walked.”

“Eva, please, if you’d rather not have it leave this room then fine, but we need to know. How did you get away?” Nelli asked again, placing a hand on the Tremere’s knee.

There was a long moment of silence, before Eva’s eyes opened, gazing off into nothingness, “I waited until the first rays of sunlight hit, until I was sure there couldn’t be other Kindred around. And then I forced my way free,” She looked down at the torn skin of her wrists, before continuing, “And then I overpowered the ghoul watching me, walked home and went to sleep.”

The two other Kindred just stared at her helplessly, before Jasper broke the silence, his arms tightening a little more, “Since when can you walk in the sun?”

“I didn’t know it would work, and I’m unsure I could do it again.” Eva whispered, “I’ve been straying so far lately.”

“Straying?” Nelli pushed again, aware that Eva may shut down at any moment, refusing to divulge anything more.

Shaking her head, Eva twisted her hands together, “From who I was, from humanity. I try so hard, but with Strauss in the city, it’s difficult to remember.”

“And that helped you walk in the sun? Feeling human?” Nelli questioned, utterly confused.

Nodding, Eva wiped away a stray drop of blood from the back of her hand, “It’s a secret teaching, one I learned a long time ago from someone who owed me a large debt. But I think that until Strauss is gone, I will not be able to manage such things again.”

Jasper just hugged her closer, lost in the relief at having her physically there in his arms.

Nelli frowned hesitantly for a moment, “We will kill him Eva, I promise you, and when we have done, do you think…maybe?”

Eva just smiled, reaching out for Nelli’s hand, “I think there’s a lot we’ll have the time to teach each other.”


End file.
